Not All Clouds Are Equal

According to a recent study, over 60% of organizations plan to adopt cloud-based cumputing services over the next five years. But with several high-profile cloud computing breakdowns hitting the headlines recently, do the benefits really outweigh the risks?

In this short article, IACCM CEO Tim Cummins asks not 'how do we resist cloud', but 'how do we enable it at an appropriate and acceptable level of risk'?

The suppliers on your list offer quite varied solutions, so I wonder what your real requirements are? From my experience, Selectica and Novatus are probably the most 'sophisticated' in terms of functionality, which is good if you see your requirements expanding over time.

• IACCM
•
2015-06-23 05:21:21

This is a very hot current topic amongst members around the world. I am looking forward to seeing what members have to say. I agree with the comment below about starting by having a clear understanding of the performance and outcome you are wanting. That will not always be obvious. A system that captures data that demonstrates the value delivered by the CM/Legal Functions might be a good discussion topic.

• DealSafe, Inc
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2015-06-24 13:51:22

Depending on your desired functionality, you may want to look at DealSafe.co - it's a newer solution, but is quite flexible and also comes with experts to extract key terms from your contract right into their databases. They are invite only right now, apply at DealSafe.co

• Merrill Corporation
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2015-06-25 05:24:10

Your choice of solution really depends on what you are looking for. Merrill DataSite offers a flexible and customisable solution - feel free to get in touch if you would like to learn more.

• Symfact
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2015-06-25 09:26:09

I would concur with the other comments about first understanding what your needs are before talking to any of the CLM providers in the marketplace. You will find that the 20 CLM providers (including my employer, Symfact Inc.) on the IACCM website are a pretty good representation of what's available in the marketplace. However, you need to be aware that each of these vendors-including Symfact-perform certain functions better than other functions. So it is important for you to do some screening based on your corporate and organizational needs. I have provided a list items below that you may want to consider as functional/operational requirements for your organization. This certainly may not be an all-encompassing list, they are just the ones that off the top of my head, but it certainly is good start for you to perhaps use.
You could consider sending out this list to the vendors that are in the IACCM Service Directory list and get them to provide you with a sentence or two on each item. Also ask them to list the top five items that they do best and then compare their top five items to the top five requirements (don't initially disclose this to the vendors) that you have/need. By taking this approach you will be better able to create a shortlist of vendors that are geared toward your needs. From there you can these shortlisted vendors have them provide a demonstration of their system so that you can see it in action performing the tasks that you need to effectively manage your contracting process.
List of requirements to consider:
- Contract authoring: do you use a library of clauses and templates as well as third party paper or do you simply want to attach a completed agreement onto a Contract Record? Also, look at what version of MS Word is used internally by contract authors.
- Version control: is it important to maintain the versions of the contract as you go through the internal collaboration and the external negotiation of the agreement?
- Workflow: do you have approval workflows that are based corporate policies and procedures or perhaps based specific business rules such as monetary value, contract type, location, etc.?
- Infrastructure: are you looking for hosted or an on-premise installation?
- Technology: do you have any corporate architectural standards (i.e. database or platforms) that need to be adhered to?
- Integrations: do you need to integrate to your CRM, ERP, AD, SSO, or other line of business system?
- Licensing: do you have a preference or need for an annual license (operational expense) versus a perpetual license (capital expense)?
- E-Signature: is this something you may need now or want to have available for the future?
- Data conversion: do you want to migrate you existing contracts (data and documents) to the new system?
- Request forms or wizards: is this something you need to start the contract process?
- Contract Types: what types of contracts do you want to manage: buy-side, sell-side, non-monetary, etc.? For data you wish to track, how much does it vary by Contract Type?
- Tracking: do you need to track financials (spend and/or revenue), commitments, performance or KPI's, etc.?
- System configurability: are you looking for an out of the box tool or one that can adapt to your needs over time?
- Users: Based on your various system users, how much control do you need over who can read and/or modify information across the system?
- Obligations: do you need to link specific text in the contract to an identifiable obligation that is actively managed during the life of the contract?
- Clause Tracking: is there a desire to track the degree of change that you standard clauses undergo?
- Related agreements: is there a need to see what amendments, SOW's, Task Orders, or other types of subcontracts are linked or related to an agreement?
- Searching: what are your searching and reporting needs? Do you need full-text searching?
- Repository only: are you looking for a simple repository that contracts can be loaded into?
- Remote access: do you need to access contract data via mobile devices? If so, what kind of data would need to be accessed?
- Multi-language/multi-currency: will the system be used in different parts of the world?
- Security: what type of user access and permission controls do you need?
- Governance: are there other governance or compliance items that are important to your organization?

•
2015-07-17 14:13:55

Important point to consider is why you are in the market for an external solution. Is the focus primarily for the professional's benefit, are you trying to manage teams or processes, performance of data analysis, compliance, etc. As a user of Selectica, I find the data input a bit time consuming, burdensome, and of pretty limited value in the creation of terms that are often somewhat standardized for many services. From a management view, it is a rare organization that has the time to carefully analyze and assess data, so there may be value, but time is the limiting factor. Anyway, it depends on what you think you want to achieve.

• DealSafe, Inc
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2015-07-17 15:10:39

I'll throw it out there again, but DealSafe.co automatically uploads key terms for you. Let's you create very flexible reports, so you can manage the large number of demands you have from your deals.

• Sysintellects LLC
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2015-07-20 14:52:16

Hi,

I trust you are doing fine.We would be happy,if you could share your email & we would be glad to demonstrate our solution.

Regards,
Rashid

• DealSafe, Inc
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2015-07-20 15:28:58

Hi Rashid, I would be interested. Best. John
jmfoxjr [at] gmail .com

• Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
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2015-07-23 10:47:01

Thank you for all the responses. Dan - very helpful in articulating and dialing in on some of our requirements.

•
2015-07-30 15:24:36

SAP (Ariba); IBM (Emptoris), Upside, 8over8 (Procon); Contiki... all other alternatives. Depending on the main drivers each of these or other solutions may be the best for your need. It's critical that you understand the pros/cons of each solution. There are a lot of offerings in this space; the right fit for one company/industry may be a horrible choice for a different company.

Michael - You raise some very interesting points. Could you summarize the key question that other members might be able to address?

• NetApp
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2015-05-22 09:29:20

Further to my colleague's post above, has anybody got any experience they can share, please, about the consolidating of process-oriented applications designed in-house into commercially developed products such as Salesforce? What thoughts did you give to the balancing of complexity, effort and costs of the consolidation versus the continued development of the in-house app?

Hi there, my company uses a cloud based contract management solution called Novatus. I know for sure that Novatus integrates with Salesforce, but not sure about BTS. Novatus has served us pretty well so far, we are currently not using the Salesforce integration but are hoping to do so in Q3'15.

Good luck!

• Hyland Software, Inc.
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2015-05-05 08:01:29

Hello! My department uses a product that we sell called OnBase. We are using the Case Management module and an Integration to DocuSign for electronic signing. The nice thing about our product is it's not an out of the box solution that requires you to use a standard that is hard to modify. You determine what you want and are able to build it with an easy to use interface. If you are interested, I'd be happy to show you how we use it through a WebEx. We have 18 employees in Contracts and it has made us very efficient, we can take on more than if we didn't have it.

• Symfact
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2015-05-05 10:20:46

Hello Geofrey, starting out to find a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) that has the functional tools and the capability to integrate to multiple systems can be a little daunting. However, established CLM providers like Symfact do have standard connectors to the more common applications like Salesforce, major ERP's, DMS's, etc. These connectors are normally tweaked slightly to match your specific data and business process needs. BST may not be as prevalent a Salesforce, but integrating with it is really not very difficult or expensive. We've integrated with a number of line of business applications and many home-grown ones and we can do so by using common toolsets.
Most CLM providers should have the ability to handle subcontracts so you shouldn't have any difficulty there, but you should make sure that the tool also provides the ability to manage the whole contract lifecycle process (i.e. requesting, authoring using MS Word, workflow, amendments, renewals, etc.), even if you just deploy some of the functionality in the first phase of your implementation. Find a vendor that will help to configure the system around your needs and only buy the tools that you need today and gradually introduce the more advanced features/tools as the organization is able to absorb the changes.
If you would like to know more about Symfact's contract management tools please do let me know.

Thank you,
Dan Townsend

• ERM-West, Inc.
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2015-05-05 10:34:43

Thank you all for the replies - I will research these suggestions online to the extent possible.

• Merrill Corporation
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2015-06-25 06:22:54

Hi Geofrey. How far did you get with this? Merrill DataSite offers a flexible and customisable contract management solution that integrates with Salesforce. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to learn more.

Unfortunately Greg, there are different models for licensure and the software companies call the shots unless you work for a large global company with some clout and you can negotiate a different agreement. My only word of caution: know what you are signing up to with respect to the licensing before purchasing and, it may be worth the time and trouble to renegotiate the T&Cs, especially if doing a large purchase. Next, keep a handle on your invoices for compliance purposes. Lastly, and it goes with the first level of caution be aware of how the software companies are representing their licenses for a particular purchase. Example: Adobe has now pushed to a subscription model wherein in prior purchases, they allowed the buyer to purchase permanent licenses. If someone purchased Adobe licenses now with the idea that they were the old model, they would be certainly shocked. Best of luck!!!

• IACCM
•
2015-03-27 02:09:03

Hi Greg
I am hearing lots of stories of companies getting caught out because of a mismatch between licensing language and virtualisation approaches. The positive story I did hear was of those companies who were using a structured approach to the management of licences in coordination with the tech teams making virtualisation decisions. By working together they have repelled issues.

•
2015-05-18 14:47:08

As much as "cloud" and "big data" are thrown around these days, I don't see that there is much coherence on license migration. Many vendors have leveraged licensing models based in some way on hardware counts, whether it's lines, ports, processors, etc. So, I tend to think that it's going to be a "journey" that each company must face. Tough negotiation is very likely.

This is a terrific and timely topic. The technology landscape is changing so fast that it's difficult for many parties to keep up. I look forward to seeing the results of the discussion.

• Enterprise Governance Consulting
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2015-02-18 16:49:24

As part of my doctoral studies I have developed a competency set for boards specifically about the competency to provide board oversight of technology strategy, risk and value creation.

There is an early version (pre multi industry validation) on my research website www.enterprisegovernance.com.au

What I find unfathomable is that so many current directors and too many of those organisations that represent corporate governance professionals still don't get this topic. Enterprise Technology Governance is very much the Elephant in the Boardroom in my opinion.

• Hewlett-Packard Company
•
2015-04-14 10:47:00

Elizabeth, this looks like a great project. Kudos to you.

• Enterprise Governance Consulting
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2015-04-14 19:54:05

Edward thanks for your enthusiasm for my work. I have just published an executive report about my research. You can find it on my website www.enterprisegovernance.com.au If you have any problems downloading let me know and I will email you a copy.

Apttus. It's very easy to implement, yet highly configurable. So it's ready to go with basic configuration out of the box for smaller or less complex contract management needs... yet fully configurable, being 100% native to Salesforce, to handle the most complex requirements and processes. And while it leverages and enhances a company's existing investment in SFDC, a non-SFDC company can take full advantage of Apttus, as it's essentially turnkey for any business (meaning all licensing and support can be done directly through Apttus). Many companies lately have been turning to Apttus after failed attempts to implement other "leading" systems.

• Symfact
•
2014-09-02 15:30:52

Symfact and a limited number of other CLM products are scalable for small, medium, or large installations. So the ability to scale to thousands of users and/or tens of thousands of contracts/documents is not always the case for some vendors so ask for some examples from the vendors on the various installations they have done in the past.
What you will find with Symfact is every client, regardless of the size is equally important to us; all of our clients get the same high level of support. We recognize that many global customers want to start small to prove out the system or to just gradually rollout a new way of doing business as a change management strategy. Our standard implementation methodology is based on moving only as fast as the organization is able to handle the change.
For a global or enterprise wide type implementation you need to look for a CLM system that is capable of not only handling multiple currencies and languages, but one that is able to incorporate different processes for different countries/regions. The meta-data on a Contract or Customer/Vendor Record that is needed in one country may be significantly different that that in another country. So the level of configuration(without a high cost and without any core code changes) is absolutely essential for the more complex rollouts. I would encourage you to talk to the various CLM vendors and see which ones are interested in talking to you if the deal size is small and also ask them to show you real life examples of how they have configured their application for global or enterprise wide implementations.
If you would like to discuss this further please do reach out to us.
Thank you,

If you use the search term "RFP" in the IACCM Library you'll find a template for CM automation tools. It is rather extensive but could be pared down to meet your needs.

Best Wishes,
Katherine

• Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.
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2014-08-14 11:06:48

Katherine - thanks for the quick reply!

• Symfact
•
2014-08-19 10:04:36

Hi Suzanne, we have a great generic CLM RFP template that you might find useful. If you can send your corporate email address to me at dan.townsend@symfact.com I would be happy to send it to you and you can use whatever pieces out of it that suit your needs.

Feel free to reach out to me. I don't know what you looked at so far but I'd be happy to share additional options that we are aware of.

kkawamoto@iaccm.com

•
2014-06-13 17:42:20

You may be struggling with a common issue, that no one system actually covers the range of activities you would like addressed. Many organizations end up with more than one system as a result,

It is hard to make suggestions without knowing what functionality most matters and why you feel the current system is inadequate. Perhaps you could expand a little

• HomeServices Lending, LLC
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2014-06-17 07:41:45

I agree that a common issue is deciding what aspect of contract management is most important to you before deciding on a solution. While many solutions do not meet every need desired, they also offer functionality you may never use. So, my suggestion is to consider what your high level requirements are as well as your detailed business requirements and then solution to build or buy from that. Integration of multiple systems may be an added difficulty so I would caution you to understand your workflow before deciding as well.

• KJO
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2014-06-22 12:22:51

Deciding on software by the no. of customers, I believe, is not the right thing, different software suit different business process.

With my experience, any software configure your business requirements on complete, interface with you current data base and the available physical support are key points for your selection.

• 8over8 Limited
•
2014-06-24 10:14:58

Why don't you take a look at ProCon offered by 8over8 Limited.

ProCon is a web based platform designed to help plan, manage and execute your contracts in accordance with your organization's best practices.

Used globally by the majority of major operators such as Shell, BP, BG, Chevron, Santos, Inpex, Woodside, Nexen, Husky to name a few.

check out: www.8over8.com

• Apttus Corporation
•
2014-06-25 10:24:32

For sake of transparency, I've recently joined Apttus as Senior Director and Legal Counsel. However, prior to that, I was a 'vendor agnostic' consultant for 10 years and am certified on systems like Emptoris, Selectica and Apttus. I've helped companies with selection and implementation of a variety of systems in the market and am happy to discuss my experiences and reasons why I've decided to stake my career on a specific vendor (as significant or more than staking a project decision on a particular vendor/product). Feel free to email me at jsmith@apttus.com

• Securedocs
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2015-04-07 13:49:34

Hello,

Disclosure: we are a contract management service provider.

For a fairly comprehensive list of providers, you can go to www.capterra.com, which lists user reviews and all the contract management service providers. We are not affiliated with Capterra, but if I were looking, it's a good way to get a comprehensive view of all the providers out there.

If you are interested in learning more about us specifically, check www.contractworks.com for:
-unlimited users and documents
-tags, tag templates to apply to contracts
-email alerts to stakeholders
-custom reports
-flat fee pricing less than $5,000 annually

If your needs require authoring, workflow management, we are probably not a fit. There are quite a few solutions out there, but when these items are included, the cost, complexity and implementation increases significantly.